Escaping the Dream
by TheHeartUnknown
Summary: Was everything for nothing? Does it just amount to death in the end? Is that the true answer? Something just doesn't seem right to Shepard as if she is caught in a never ending dream. The question is though can she break free from it?. First Fic.
1. Escaping the Dream

DISCLAMER: Story and characters belong to BIOWARE this is just my twist on the story. Takes place during the final scene of ME3 and playing along with the "indoctrination" theory. If you don't like the theory then this story is not for you, and if you never heard of it you should look it up, it's pretty interesting.

Kaycee Shepard (full play through from ME1,2,3) : Paragade (mostly paragon), LI: Liara, Ending: Destroy.

SPOILER ALERT: haven't finished the game and don't want to be spoiled? Then don't read. Also I'm already judging that those who are reading know pretty much what everything is and the general idea of what is going on. (ex: not going to go into detail per-say of how Shepard got there, what is the Citadel etc.)

First attempted Fic. Thanks and enjoy.

She drew up her Predator hand gun as she held her breath and gritted her teeth against the pain of walking. Stripped of most of her armor, she was covered in wounds. The most of them deepening at her lower left abdomen, and blood began to soak through he exposed fabric where her armor was missing, but she didn't care. To her, nothing made sense anymore. She strained against the trigger and unloaded the first shot into the red tubular glass, the sound of it cracking mimicked the cracks that began to form in her mind.

"_Why_?" She pleaded into the darkness of herself. Just two years ago she stopped an attempted attack from Sovereign, an organic synthetic machine known as Reaper that belonged to an army that was just like itself, and had one purpose… to destroy all organic beings. After which she had destroyed it she was hailed, "Hero of the Citadel" a name which left an unfavorable taste in her mouth.

"_Shepard…"_ a voice spoke, echoing sweetly and washing over Shepard like the gentle caress of a river passing against a young child's feet. Images of a fair skinned blue toned Asari shifted into her mind, "_Liara…"_

Another automated pull of the trigger sent a whirring bullet into the tube, the crackle of the impact shattered Shepard awake.

_ "I don't understand!"_ she screamed pitifully in her head, anger consuming the pain and the invisible weights fastened around her ankles.

Her stride lengthened and her posture reformed itself commandingly. A white glow in the form a child lingered behind her. Shepard sensed the Catalyst's non-realistic eyes boring into her back but she refused to look, her eyes unwavering from the fractured red tube. Moments before she had spoken with the Catalyst who had claimed to be the Citadel and the owner of the Reapers. His child-like voice was of blunt certainty as he explained that his reasons for destroying advanced organics was the prevent chaos, to which Shepard rebuked by implying the drive to live.

"You have three choices," the figure spoke, "to control us," he raised his seemingly innocent hand towards a blue power source with two handles. "To combine all synthetic and organic life to create a unified race without chaos, "he shifted his finger towards the center where an emanating tower of green energy raged forth upwards. "Or you can choose to destroy all synthetics." His hand slid sternly to the right towards a red tubular structure. "Just know the first two choices you WILL die, but chaos will be adverted. The last you will destroy the reapers and all synthetics and even YOU Shepard…" he paused momentarily to give emphasis, "are made partly of synthetics."

"_He never said I WOULD die…"_ she pitied in her mind. Part of her hated herself for thinking so selfishly. But she just wanted to believe… believe that every choice she made was worth something in the end. She deserved her end… right? The question uneasily set itself in her stomach and she suddenly became self conscience of the fabric that glued to her skin by her blood. Nothing made sense, and all she knew was that she just wanted it to be over.

She fired another shot which admittedly missed and hit a supporting hollow sliver beam, causing the gas inside to ignite from the heat of the bullet. Tongues of fire screamed out from the inflicted wound, the initial burst of fire singeing the side of Shepard's cheek as she turned amateurishly to shield herself. Her eyes began to water from the fresh pain that scorned her. _"Sovereign, Harbinger, Reapers…" _The names resounded in her head like a coin being dropped in the middle of an empty room. Hate and vengeance mixed into her concoction of anger and sorrow. She demanded their everlasting death. If it wasn't for them a civilization would flourish, Liara wouldn't have to have put down her own mother, and so many wouldn't have to endure the torture of love, life, and hope lost.

She stood before the structure as the flames beckoned at her like fingers. She stood firmly as if she were about to enter into the gates of hell. The background in front of her was littered with remnants of ships set aflame as new ones struggled to take their place. Dark masses of cuttlefish-shaped Reapers met with them and a light show of blue and red cannon lasers decorated the sky as each attempted to sear into the others body.

"I fight for them…" she growled, "I fight because they need me to, I fight because that's what living means… to not give up what you care about most." With that Shepard unleashed the last bullet and was met with splintering glass and the devilish arms of the explosion. The Catalyst behind her then vanished instantaneously, as did Shepard's conscience.


	2. Through Smoke and Fire

_"Shepard…"_the gentle Asari's voice called out in the thick darkness. Shepard's tongue twitched slightly within her mouth. She tried to answer but her mouth felt as if it was filled with water and her tongue was made of lead._ "Liara, please don't go…"_ was her only thought as the Asari's smile began to fade. Tears began to sting around her eyes. She wanted to cry so badly for her loss, but a sudden realization and panic seized her by the throat. Her imagination of drowning was now becoming a sudden reality. Her lungs burned for its desire of oxygen as she writhed now in suspended dark space. A small tunnel of light began to whirlpool in front of her, coupled by the sound of gunfire and muffled cries of men in battle.

Shepard's eyes shot open as her mind returned to her beaten and battered body. She painfully twisted to her injured left side to decrease stretching the skin around her gash to bear through vomiting up a mouthful of blood. She inhaled sporadically, gasping to fill her deprived lungs what they were aching for. She struggled to make sense of her environment as her vision gradually came into focus. It did her little good as where she lay, all around her, was smoke and fire. All she could manage to see was the scars that riddled her body, and massive blocks of concrete that built up around her. As her mind and lips began to form a question her memory already began to answer it for her.

_**-Flashback Start-**_

Shepard leans against the ruined wall of an unrecognizable building, her eyes drawn to the tower of light beaming up to the Citadel which stood on the other side of "No Man's Land." She had just given what she believed would be her final speech to her comrades… to her friends. Tali, Garrus, Ashley, Vega, Edi, newly acquainted Javik the last surviving prothean, and Liara. Her mind savored the last name as a young child would savor his/her last bite of a chocolate bar. Shepard's had been dark chocolate for the name brought her a bittersweet taste in that moment. She could feel Liara's aura and turned to confirm her presence. The blue skin Asari tremebled before her about a good two arm spans away. Her body trembled slightly with some sort of anger, but her eyes betrayed her to her true emotion, sadness.

"Liara…" Shepard tried to answer but was quickly cut off. "I should be going with you Shepard." Shepard's eyes softened seemingly with every ragged breath she took which hinted she was holding back from crying. "This could be our last, our last…" her body shuddered as she broke down in tears. Shepard, without hesitation, walked up to Liara and just held her in her arms while she cried into Shepard.

Shepard turned to lightly plant a small kiss on the Asari's beautifully curved, tip pointed crest. "Liara it's not that I didn't want you by my side… it was the hardest decision I've ever had to make." Liara shifted slightly as her crying now became small sniffles. Shepard ran her fingertips up and down soothingly along Liara's spine from outside her armored clothes. Shepard couldn't deny, Liara's white clad armor with blue trimming she acquired during their adventure to take down the Shadow Broker was honestly stunning on her.

Shepard inhaled to speak once more, but drew in Liara's sweet aromatic scent that smelled faintly of white lilies, despite the small of battle around them. "I love you." Liara broke the silence between them as well as broke down Shepard's wall of strength. Shepard then embraced her lover tightly, now beginning her own moment of trembling out of fear. "I'm so sorry Liara. I couldn't do it, I couldn't ask you to come." Shepard spoke into Liara's shoulder. Liara ran her fingers delicately through the Spectre's dark brown shoulder length hair. A few pieces naturally stuck out here and there, which Shepard lazily refused to tame, claiming that it added to her irresistible charm. The Spectre's childish grin flashed briefly in Liara's mind and a smile formed sweetly upon her darker blue hued lips. "Kaycee" she called gently to her now quietly sobbing bondmate. The sound of her own name sent chills down her spine as she forced herself up to look into Liara's deep rich ocean blue eyes. Liara felt a bit guilty enjoying Kaycee's vulnerability. The hero of the galaxy having come back to life was practically now as frail as a sheet of glass in front of her.

Kaycee managed to smudge her tears away with the back of her hand in time before Vega, a tall built typical jarhead marine with a buzzed Mohawk, crashed in. "Commander! uhh-…" Kaycee cleared her throat, "What Vega." She hadn't really meant to but the order came across coldly. "We got to go Lola." The nickname he gave her from when they first met twitched at the corner of her lips. She wasn't irritated by it but was rather found of it in a "Brother/Sister tease" kind of way. "I'll be right there." Vega tapped the side of the concrete frame of what was supposed to be a door and nodded as he jogged away. Kaycee's eyes returned to her bondmate whose gaze had never left her despite the interruption.

"Liara," Kaycee stared, with a momentary pause in order to formulate her words. "When I get back we'll have to work on that speech for our daughters." She smiled, but more so gave a lopsided smirk. Liara couldn't resist a small giggle which sent the human's heart in butterflies. Kaycee then gently rested her forehead against Liara's. "I'll be back soon." She could see Liara's eyes searching for truth in those words in her own eyes.

Then Kacyee felt a tugging at her mind, _"You better…"_ Liara's mind had touched her own to convey the words as well as the feeling of an annoyed wife who had been waiting for her lover to come home all day to add weight to her thought. Shepard flashed her childish grin as the Asari's eyebrows, which were really the T'soni's family facial markings, formed in an "I'm serious" manner. Kaycee regained her seriousness about her and took her lover's face gently in her hands as she brought their lips to meet. Wave after wave of intense love and emotion was not only passed sensually through their lips but also by the unique bond they sharedtogether which allowed them to carry thoughts and emotions through a unified connection of neural impulses. This was an act only shared among Asari and their bondmates through a process of joining also known as melding. As Shepard broke the kiss, a smile formed over her calmly. She knew the Asari were wrongly deemed a promiscuous race because of their ability to join with just about anyone and also the fact that most were seen as dancers, but what made her bond strongest with Liara was that SHE was the only one. Kaycee loved that feeling of Liara being exclusive only to her, and Liara too mentioned the same. She actually loved the way Kaycee became a bit possessive of her to a healthy and didn't mind at all. And truthfully Liara was Kaycee's first as well "and my only one," she spoke aloud. Liara couldn't resist and stole another quick kiss before Kaycee had to leave and answer the call of the galaxy in need.

**_-Flashback End-_**

Kaycee absentmindedly touched her chapped lips feeling the lingering memories grace her with her lover's kiss once more. Pellets of bullet spray lit through the barrier of smoke around her, and her responsibilities now took hold of her. She groaned and winced against the excruciating pain that ripped through her entire body, starting mainly from her left side, and rose to her feet. She hunched over and gripped her weeping gash on her lower left abdomen with her right hand, hoping to appease the pain but with no avail. Step after step she staggered across the remains of buildings, and bodies, one for which she paused to remind herself why she kept going. A mangled body of what used to be a human lay out before her. Its skin was an artificial pale grey with blue tubing that was sown all throughout the body. Its eyes wide open with no sign of being human no longer, just dark blue mindless emptiness. The mouth was gaped and its hand stretched out towards Shepard but it obviously had failed to catch its prey as it had been decorated with bullet holes.

"Tch." Kaycee spat to the side, not only of disgust. The distinct metallic taste of blood was filling her mouth again, and she could no longer afford to gaze. She knew she had to find someone and hopefully not one of those things which were fittingly dubbed as "Husks." She stepped around the body and finally met with the edge of the smoke wall, fire rising constantly to her right from some sort of destroyed aircraft. Kaycee took a deep breath and pressed through the dark veil. She hated feeling left open and unprepared, and she was exactly that, opened and unprepared. The gravel crunched beneath her dust covered boots to which brought no comfort to Kaycee at all, and was helpless to do anything about it because her wounds hindered her from keeping weight off of her feet.

"Ah, God Dammit!" she cursed as she stumbled over a metal beam that protruded from the ground. She fell forward but managed to throw her hands in front of her to break her fall, but it did nothing to stop whip of pain through her body. She bit down her bottom lip hard as she clenched her wound once more, trying to draw her mind away from the pain. The taste of blood swam in her mouth and she couldn't tell if it was from her injury or from biting her lip too hard, which she didn't really care at the moment. The pain slowly subsided and she brought herself to sit back on her knees. In that second she made out a figure through the smoke and the initial thought of what or who it could be made her stomach twist. She quickly glanced around but no object of any sizeable damage was available. Kaycee mumbled irritably under her breath and clenched her left hand as much as she could endure. Blue swirls of light encircled her hand as she tested herself on how stable her biotic was. She pushed herself too far though as she muffled a scream through her teeth and the beautiful dance of lights vanished from her. She hurriedly glanced up to where the figure now appeared to be facing her through the mask of smoke. Kaycee opened out her palm and wiggled her fingers closed again.

"I guess we do it the hard way." A grim smirk crept onto her face as she prepared to bolt from where she stood with every last once of strength she had left. She wasn't going to die here, not because of the pain, and not because of some measly Reaper enslaved Husk. The concealed figure lightly drew closer to her and Kaycee's heart drowned out all sound within her ears. Her eyes squinted as her vision began to blur once more. "Dammit." She gritted her teeth but felt the darkness wrap her once more.

AUTHORS NOTE:

Super sorry but just fixed this chapter up and added a little bit... still getting used to fanfic so apologize for the mess that caused. Finding out more and more how to edit/add/and change things around haha. ^^" hopefully I'll have time to add more to the chapters. Thanks for reading and reviewing to all who have so far, greatly appreciate it. 


	3. A Small Victory

_"Beep…Beep… Beep"_ Kaycee shifted slightly but couldn't seem to open her eyes; instead her mind's eyes took hold of her realm of consciences. Darkness filled around her in an empty room with a small orb of light in floating in front of her view.

'_I'm for sure dead this time_,' she thought as she tried to childishly catch the orb of light.

"Shepard, don't go…" a sweet melody voice echoed in. Kaycee looked around her and then clenched her shirt over her heart. A fire of pain burned with every beat and caused her to fall to her knees, but before she could reach the bottom something had caught her. She turned her eyes upward to see Liara staring back at her with eyes of sorrow but full of love as her lips parted once more and spoke, "stay with me Shepard. I'm not losing you again." Kaycee looked at her with utter confusion till Liara brought her head forward and touched her forehead to hers.

Hot, ignited pain flashed through Kaycee's body as her eyes opened to reality.

"Hold her down!" an older womanly voiced shouted as bodies clothed in what seemed to be white blurs surrounded her. "Beep Beep Beep," that irritable sound from before now was louder than ever. Chaos swam around her as she tried to struggle against her would be captors. Till a sudden touch silenced the storm within her, a familiar touch that only belonged to, "Li-" Shepard coughed and fresh blood flowed forth from her mouth.

"Shepard I'm here" Liara placed her hands on either side of Shepard's cheeks, her human blood coating the wrist of her left hand. Shepard turned and let their eyes meet. A small smile formed upon Shepard's face and before she could even utter another word Liara silenced her with a gently press of a fingertip, shaking her head and pressing her lips together to hold back from crying.

"Liara I need you to stay here during this operation, I need you to keep her calm. Are you going to be okay with that?" the older woman asked.

"Of course Doctor Chakwas, I can do this. I need to be here." Liara just momentarily looked away to answer the older woman before resting her forehead against Shepard's once more, their eyes never moving from each other.

_'Kaycee I need you to calm this may-'_

_'Hurt?_' Kaycee interrupted. Liara smiled as Kaycee smiled warmly back._ 'I still forget how this all works,'_ she uttered through their bonded link, otherwise known through mind.

Chakwas held a scalpel within her hand but through years of training and professionalism at being a doctor, the emergency before her didn't seem to bother her at all. But inside she was trembling, terrified at the repercussions of failure. She would not lose what would possibly be her first, but her friend, her colleague, the woman she followed for 4 years, chasing after Saren, the Collectors the Reapers. Shaking her head to clear out such thoughts and focus on the task at before her. The sharp blade began to work through the blood soaked cloth the commander wore before she could examine the largest of the wounds. Chakwas paused a moment which caused a momentary silence in the makeshift hospital room. She looked around at the awaiting faces of her nurses and doctors, "Where is that anesthesia!" she ordered with authority. The room once again animated frantically. The gash in her lower left abdomen was nothing the doctor didn't already expect. Whatever had shot her, punctured well through the skin and damaged a lot of tissue but thankfully her armor, when it was there, had slowed it enough to where it hadn't damaged any major organs to a severity to where it couldn't heal. And the excessive amount of blood from the mouth was caused by movement irritation to the wound which had stressed her lungs enough to cause minor internal bleeding also the fact that whatever had hit Shepard had blasted her bluntly against an object hard enough to cause a large bruise to her back, which most likely had indirectly affected her lungs.

Liara could feel sweat bead upon Shepard's brow as she tightened beneath her, trying to endure the pain from the open operation. The sight and feeling made her stomach churn and the thought of being unable to have done anything for her was worse. She drew her hand down and clenched Shepard's as she kept their minds tightly connected trying to draw Shepard's attention away from the pain. Kaycee felt the slender gentle fingers slide into her palm and she held them welcomingly, trying to resist the urge to grip them under the pain even though that was her lover's intention for them being there.

'_I've… I've been through worse.'_ She managed to say through their bond. Liara couldn't reply for fear of answering would cause her to burst into tears_. 'How are the others?'_ Liara squeezed her hand gently before swallowing down the tears.

'_They are okay but really Kaycee you should ease your mind, you can ask after your all better.' _She whispered.

Kaycee nodded and let their minds brush against each other in a warm embrace. Chakwas briefly glanced at the two, their eyes closed, and seeming at peace finally now that they've found each other once again. She had just started finishing up the stitches. 'Nothings better than old fashion traditional medical stitching to get the job done,' she thought. Medical supplies had been tight and the equipment she needed were located at another "safe base" so she had to improvise. But aside from the Great Doctor Mordin Solus, there was nothing Doctor Karen Chakwas could not improvise with. She stood back and heaved a relieved sigh as she looked around the grey concrete boxed room with florescent lighting above her. "Doctor Chakwas the anesthesia arrived," one of the medical subordinates called as a team entered in with a steel box. Chakwas pulled the gloves from her hands and smiled, holding up her hand to stop them. "Just get me some morphine incase, but I'll think the commander will be just fine now. All she needs is rest," she turned and looked at the scene behind her once more. To her even if the war wasn't technically over this was definitely a victory. "She'll be fine."


End file.
